Lost
It's the middle of the night when she wakes up to someone pulling on her hair.
"Get the heck up! You're not meant to be here!" Her stepmother says, with a fistful of her hair.
"STOP, you're hurting me, please stop!" She yells.
"Oh, stop crying, Story! You're a disgrace to this family and this family's name. I would kill you myself if Camdon didn't order me to throw you out instead!" She snarls.
Tears threaten to fall, but Story refuses to let them. "Let me go!" She yells, pushing against her.
Her stepmother gets mad and screams at Story. "Get out of this house, NOW! I don't ever want to see your face again."
Story runs out of her room, which was a storage closet. She runs to the front door and almost runs into one of the maids working the night shift.
She runs out the doors into the courtyard, then realizes she has no idea where to go. Then an arrow lands in front of her. Story looks up and sees someone with a bow pointing at her.
"Stepmother?" She whispers. Her face goes cold in realization. “Camdon.”
Camdon used to be the brother she went to when her stepmother abused her. Now he has a bow pointed at her to kill her.
Tears fall down her face when she makes eye contact with him. She mouths, "I trusted you with my life. Be ready for revenge."
Camdon freezes, realizing what she just said.
Story turns and runs through the gates. She runs into the woods and doesn't stop.
Tears stream down her face; she trips and falls onto the ground.
Rain pours around her, and she feels her conscience start to fade. Then darkness surrounds her.
***
Story lies on the ground; the sun shines on her through the trees. Her blonde hair is splayed out on the ground. She's out cold, barely breathing.
Her nightgown is soaked, and mud is all over her.
A vulture lands on the ground a little ways away from her. It steps forward, curiously turning its head sideways.
Squack!
It lands on her and pecks her thigh. Story's body starts glowing a bright blue and gold color.
The bird flies away, scared to death.
The glow dies down, and Story shoots up in fright. "How'd I get here?" She says to herself.
She wasn't there last night. She was only a few meters into the woods when she collapsed.
"Where am I? How did I get here?" She asks herself again.
She looks around again, but nothing comes to mind.
Then it registers in her mind.
The Lost Forest.
It's the forest right outside her stepmother's house. Once you go in, there is no going out. People have gotten lost and died in these woods because it seems as if they take on a different tree formation every night, so you wake up lost.
That's the whole reason why people stay away. No one wants to die of hunger after being lost in a random forest, let alone this one.
"Hello, food." A voice says from the shadows.
Story jumps up in fright. "Who are you?!" She yells in alarm.
"Oh hush, you're going to make me lose my appetite. And I get angry when I don't eat. So come here, little one, be my dinner."
Story freezes. This isn't something she's imagining, but she wishes it was.
She looks into the shadow. "How about you come out then?"
If he refuses, then maybe it's because he can't be in the sun. Maybe he'll burn to death.
"I can't; that's why I asked you to come to me for a little food."
"Shadow assassin." Story whispers.
Shadow assassins can't go in the sun; otherwise, they burn to death in seconds. If she can get him to step into the sun, then he'll die, and this problem will be solved. But he's not going to do so.
Story stands up and glares at the assassin.
"What was that food?"
"I'm not your food. I won't be your food."
When she was younger, her father taught her how to fight a shadow assassin for defense. That was before he died. She knows all the weak points and ways to get it in the sun or to kill it.
"You see, I'm soaking wet from the rain. If you try to eat me, then you'll disappear, right?"
"If you don't come to the shadows, then I'll just come to you at night and eat you."
"Not if you can't catch me. And I'm pretty fast." Story doesn't even hesitate; she turns and runs through the trees.
Shadow assassins can move to where they can see; as long as he doesn't see me, he won't be able to teleport to me.
The shadow assassin keeps up with Story, but when she turns around a tree, it teleports to the wrong place. Story breathes a sigh of relief. Her father taught her that when an assassin is chasing her, turn around a tree right before it teleports. It will go to the wrong place and then get lost.
Story turns and starts running the opposite direction. She doesn't stop until she knows no one is behind her.
I hope there's food somewhere. It'd be nice to have a little more energy and focus.
She sits down at the roots of a Lumen tree. Its huge trunk and tall branches cover Story's body, blocking the wind from her cold skin.
Light shines on her through the tall trees. She lies on her back and looks at the sky. Exhaustion suddenly takes over her body.
No, no no no. I can't fall asleep. I can't. She yells at herself mentally. Then falls asleep.
***
A low growl sounds in her ear. Something soft covers her chest, and she snuggles into the warmth of it.
Her eyes open slowly and meet piercing ice-blue eyes. Black fur surrounds her.
She tries to scream, but nothing comes out. Nothing can come out. The black-furred thing pulls its tail away from her arms. It stands.
It's shaped like a wolf, but it's bigger than the grizzly bears the villagers have around the towns that raid the shacks.
She looks at it in horror. "No, no, no no no. You're not real. Not even close to being real. There's no way. I'm dreaming. Yeah, that's it. I'm just dream-"
It shifts to a human form, and clothes appear on its body almost instantly, as if they were summoned.
"I am real. This is real. There's no need to be afraid."
"Who, what- AHHHHHH." She screams in terror of the thing standing in front of her. She turns around, but realizes the trees have changed position again. She runs forward anyway, but the thing that was standing behind her gets in front of her and grabs her with his arms.
"Listen, little cub. You're not going anywhere. You're going to explain to me who you are and how you got here."
"I- you- who- where-" She can't figure out a full sentence. Tears stream down her face.
He gets to his knees and bows his head. "I'm Soren Evergreen, Alpha of the Evergreen pack and king of the Evergreen kingdom. And you are?"
"I-I'm Story."
He looks at her in confusion. "Title?"
"Oh, umm, I am Lady Story Sterling, well, was."
"Okay, great, now tell me why you're here in my kingdom?"
"I'm here because...” she thinks for a second, her face scrunching up in confusion, “because... I don't know." Her face turns pale, and her legs buckle under her. Tears fall down her face at the realization of her being in a random kingdom with none of her family with her.
"Hey, hey. Calm down." He gets back down on his knees and looks at her face. "I know we don't know each other, and I know you aren't meant to be here. I can smell the scent of human on you everywhere."
Something in her stomach flips at the way his voice carries concern.
“But how? Why am I here? I- I…” Story’s eyes flutter as she passes out from fear, falling forward into Soren.
He catches her, sighing. “How can I be able to keep you from passing out every second? You’re definitely a special one.” He chuckles at himself, picking up Story and carrying her toward the kingdom.
